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The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the nation's consumer-price index fell by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2008 from an increase of 1.2% the previous quarter, marking the sharpest quarterly drop in inflation in 11 years. Analysts expect the data to persuade the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates to stimulate the economy, now that inflation is no longer a concern.

Zurich Financial Services will present its Global Risk Assessment Module, along with reports generated by the tool, this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The module evaluates 24 global risks and their consequences in 160 countries.

The Federal Reserve's emergency credit programs will replace interest rates as the U.S. central bank's most important tool for influencing the economy's direction. Fed watchers said this focus makes it more difficult for investors and advisers to analyze the impact of the Fed's decisions, effectively undercutting the central bank's ability to rebuild confidence in capital markets.

As the financial crisis increasingly affects the Middle East, the Saudi Arabian government is being called upon to pour money into the country's banking sector. The Saudi American Bank said in a recent study that lending activity is declining because of uncertainty about the global economy. Banks are also constrained by the country's mandatory 85% loan-deposit ratio, Samba said.

Banco Santander said it is ready to pay $1.82 billion to settle claims from its clients that it failed to properly investigate funds managed by Bernard Madoff, who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of running a mammoth Ponzi scheme. The Spanish bank's offer could set a precedent for settlement offers from other banks that placed clients' funds with Madoff, including Bank Medici in Austria and Union Bancaire Privee in Switzerland.